It's Spring
by cynickblue2
Summary: ByakuyaRenji, some background ByakuyaHisana. Prompts  selfish, grave, rules


Everyone knows that stone-faced Kuchiki Byakuya is a living, breathing and walking encyclopedia of rules and regulations. If you want to find out about some obscure rule from the Shinigami Employee Handbook™ but there is no physical copy available and you are desperate to know the answer, just ask Byakuya† If you are clueless on what reports need to be filled after you have 'accidentally' destroyed a building, just ask Byakuya. The same standards apply to his personal life – Rukia (still terrified of her Nii-sama) and Renji (finding out the hard-way that a stubborn head can still hurt after beating it against a stone wall repeatedly) can testify to that.

'Renji, I have requested for some personal time off in the afternoon. You are in charge.'

Looking up from the paperwork _(The blasted things seem to propagate generations if you just look away for a second)_, Renji examines his taichou's face closely. Even though Byakuya has relaxed somewhat ever since his fight with Ichigo, Renji, well-versed with the different moods of his captain and gifted with a healthy sense of self-preservation, knows that this is not THE time to ask questions especially when the instructions are given in that particular tone. The red-haired man just nods his acquiesce and watches the figure glide away. Anyways, he will just drag out the reason for his lover's bad mood later tonight.

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Byakuya stands in front of Hisana's grave. It has been a year since his last visit and the weeds are already flourishing under the weak spring sun. He kneels down to pull out the offending plants. After the task is done, he sits down beside the tombstone and looks out across the vast Kuchiki fields. These fields are where he has spent his childhood, sneaking away from the suffocating pressures of being the heir to the 1st Noble House. Hisana had enjoyed watching the sunset from this same spot and he knew when he was handing the funeral preparations, she would like to spend her eternal rest here rather than the cold Kuchiki crypts.

With his eyes closed, he thinks back to this morning when he wakes up, feeling the chill of the cold spring morning, turns to see Renji curled up beside him in the massive bed, with his red hair loose across the pillows and face relaxed in sleep. It hits him then –the sharp and relentless constriction of his heart.

Almost immediately, he feels guilty towards Hisana. He was not able to feel any strong emotion towards her, his wife, even during the strong battle of wits with the family elders to get marriage preparations underway. In fact, their love was gentle, almost familial-in-nature.

But with Renji, what they have shared is fierce and overwhelming. This scares him and makes him want to escape. He has vowed to the memory of his parents that he will not break the rules again after Rukia. Yet after all that pressure to uphold the reputation of the Kuchiki clan, he is feeling that small rebellious streak, to be selfish and just follow his heart. Yoruichi once said in unexpected sobriety just before her self-declared exile to the human world, 'Little Byakuya, learn to live for yourself and not for others. If even you can't break the rules, then who can?'

He opens his eyes to admire the reddish hue of the evening sky and decides that perhaps it is time to talk to Renji about their future together. 

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† Since the age of 10, Byakuya is able to recite from Rule 1(a) to Rule 1000(d) and the Appendixes from Shinigami Employee Handbook™ front to back and vice versa in 6minutes. It is a result of a misspent childhood prior to meeting Yoruichi and Kaien. The both of them believe that strip poker, playing dices and drunkard parties are more educational for Byakuya. Byakuya secretly agrees.

Unless of course if you are from the 11th division. Because the 6th division taichou gets so tired of explaining the same process to the bunch of blood-thirsty idiots on a regular basis (Kenpachi believes in holding weekly trials for seated officers), he has come up with a report template just for them. Of course if they destroy too many buildings, Yumichika will sic Yachiru on Byakuya – Byakuya will eventually have to shut her up with sweets and do the paperwork for her. Yumchika likes this win-lose situation.


End file.
